Transfer education centering on the liberal arts declined relatively beginning in the late 1960s with the expansion of vocational education. But the distinctions blurred as courses that matched university programs in business and health fields grew. By the 1970s more than half all associate degrees awarded were to students from occupational programs, and one third of all transfers had occupationally oriented majors. The ratio of bachelor's degrees awarded to students who began their postsecondary studies in community colleges has never approximated those granted to native university freshmen. However, when viewed from the other end of the spectrum--that is, when one counts the number and percent of bachelor's degree recipients who earned credits from a community college--the transfer picture takes different form. Over the past few decades, many efforts have been made to increase the number of bachelor's degrees awarded to community college matriculants. The transfer associate degree is another recent development, one that attempts to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the transfer process through statewide articulation agreements and policies that limit individual universities' ability to impose additional requirements on students. The implementation of transfer associate degrees moves America's system of higher education away from long-ingrained, isolated practices and toward greater trust and collaboration among institutions.